


Happy Birthday

by BlackwaterVial



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Birthday, Drunkenness, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, slight AU where the Phantom doesn’t exist and the real Big Boss is leading Diamond Dogs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-27
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-28 12:33:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5090891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackwaterVial/pseuds/BlackwaterVial
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I wanted to write a small fic about Ocelot’s birthday, but somehow it became longer than I intended. Contains fluff, friendship and drunken stupidity. Basically every chapter will deal with another character; the first is Quiet, then comes Kaz and finally John. </p><p>Note: The Big Boss in this fanfic is the real John and not Venom Snake. I just prefer John/Adam to Venom/Ocelot, so it’s a bit AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Quiet

Ocelot woke up with the knowledge that he was one year older again. Not that age mattered to him, but nevertheless he felt a strange kind of pressure every time his birthday came around. There was still so much for him to do and with each passing year he was reminded that time didn’t stand still just so Ocelot could fulfill his purpose. With mixed feelings he got out of bed, washed himself quickly in the small shower next to his room and walked out into the crisp morning air. It was still early, so the Intel platform was relatively quiet apart from the guard patrols who muttered a tired “Morning, Sir” when Ocelot walked past them. A slight fog hung over the water and thick clouds covered the sun, painting the world in grey colors. The steady noise of the waves rippling against the metal columns of the platform created an almost soothing atmosphere. The calmness was one thing why Ocelot liked mornings like this one. It made him feel at peace, despite being on military base.

After a short breakfast in the mess hall, consisting of oatmeal and an apple, he took a look at his schedule. The day seemed relatively relaxed, no bigger tasks to do or reports to write. It was a strange coincidence that his birthday of all days would be one where he actually had some time off. No one here knew about it, except for maybe John and probably Miller, but John was too busy with his missions and Miller wouldn’t give a damn about Ocelot’s birthday.

While Ocelot made his way across the platforms towards the shooting range of the combat platform, Mother Base slowly came to life. The fog over the water vanished and the sun peaked through the thinning clouds. Soldiers came out of their quarters and resumed their daily schedule. Ocelot could see Laughing Wallaby with some of the child soldiers John had brought back from a mission once heading towards the building they had somehow converted into a kind of school. Lonely Crow and Crying Eagle were chatting while standing in line for the lavatory and he spotted Greedy Marmot doing pushups next to the CQC training field. He wondered when life on Mother Base had begun to feel so normal to him. He wondered even more when he had started to memorize all the ridiculous names of the staff.

He reached the shooting range and saw soldiers already waiting for him in front of the booths. They saluted when he came closer and he gave them a quick nod. He spent the rest of his morning observing the new recruits. At some point along the way Flaming Buffalo had joined him. The woman was one of the most talented shooters he’d ever seen, her accuracy with an assault rifle almost scary good. They stood next to each other, discussing various styles of shooting while Ocelot had to interrupt their talking every once in a while to correct an especially bad recruit. Talking to Flaming Buffalo was always a nice pastime. She didn’t waste his time with small talk, instead focusing the conversation on a topic they were both interested in. Which was guns. Around midday, when almost all of the soldiers headed over to lunch, he allowed himself to take a few shots at the targets himself. Twirling his revolvers in between shots, he hit one object after the other, not missing once.

After the training he actually had the rest of the day off. He seldom had any free time, so he didn’t really know what to do with himself. Usually some soldier would come to him over the course of the day, handing him paper work or even reports of spies who he then got to “interrogate”. But there was nothing of that today. He had absolutely _nothing_ to do. He could use the time to sort through John’s old mission reports or maybe take DD out for a walk. Or he could…

Without even realizing it, he found himself on the medical platform, apparently having walked absentmindedly all the way from the combat platform to here. Soft music sounded from the hole in the floor where Quiet’s cell was located. He might as well just go over and say hello. Ocelot liked Quiet. Of course she never said anything, but maybe that was the nice diversion that made Ocelot feel so comfortable in her company. The silent sniper didn’t need words to communicate. Instead she had a very large set of facial expressions that told him what she was thinking. Since most of Mother Base’s staff was afraid of the woman, they never got the chance to see the way she was like when she didn’t feel threatened or out of place. Ocelot had known from the first moment that she meant no actual harm to anyone on Mother Base, as long as they didn’t challenge her. After Ocelot had interrogated her all those months ago he'd paid her a visit in her cell. He hadn’t apologized and she hadn’t expected him to. All he'd done was bring her a small cassette tape with various songs he’d found around Mother Base. She'd looked surprised when he'd put the tape into the cassette player and pressed on play. And when the first tones of _Love Will Tear Us Apart_ had echoed through her prison Ocelot had seen her smile for the first time. Ever since that day there had been a silent agreement between them. He knew he wasn’t allowed to let her out of the cell because of the rest of Mother Base, but what he _could_ do was turn a blind eye and pretend he didn’t see her slipping out of the cage. She would always give him one of her smiles for that, small and grateful. Every once in a while Ocelot also brought her new cassette tapes, filled with all the songs he managed to scrape together. Quiet absolutely loved music. After Ocelot had discovered that she wasn’t a big fan of slow ballads he concentrated on bringing her the newest pop songs. She would sit up on her bed, and look expectantly at him, eyes widened a bit, waiting for the cassette to start. As soon as the first sounds filled her prison, another one of her smiles spread over her face, this one wide and happy, and she started tapping her finger to the rhythm of the song. Ocelot didn’t know why, but he liked seeing Quiet happy. She had it hard enough as it was, with everyone (except for maybe John) acting suspicious towards her, so she really deserved some kindness. He also didn’t know why he’d taken it upon himself to be the one to show her this kindness. Maybe it was because she reminded him of himself back in the day when he had to spy on Volgin. He had pretty much been imprisoned too and it could become really boring with no one to talk to.

When he entered Quiet’s cell he found her sitting on her bed, fumbling around with her already worn out thighs while gently nodding her head to the rhythm of _Dancing With Tears in My Eyes._ Ocelot smiled and unnecessarily cleared his throat; she already knew he was there. She looked up and greeted him with a short nod. He returned it and pulled up a chair next to her cell.

“How’s it going? You doing alright?” he asked, not expecting an answer.

She shrugged, then pointed towards the speakers and giving him a slightly unhappy look.

“Need more music?” he grinned. “I see what I can do.”

Quiet gave him a thumbs up, accompanied by a small smile.

“You wanna go for a stroll? I have some time, so I’ll take care that no one notices your absence.”

The smile on Quiet’s face grew bigger and she made a thankful gesture, her body already starting to dematerialize. Ocelot waved and then leaned back in his chair, listening for footsteps that could indicate a soldier coming down the stairs to the cell. Most of them didn’t even dare to look through the bars though, and Quiet usually wasn’t gone very long, so it should be fine. His thoughts drifted off to John. They hadn’t seen much of each other after he’d awoken from his 9-year long coma. It wasn’t like Ocelot didn’t try to spend time with his old comrade, but it was hard to find a peaceful moment where both of them didn’t have anything to do. John was on missions most of the time, rescuing hostages, gathering Intel, fighting the bad guys. The usual business. And when he returned to Mother Base for a few days it was Ocelot who didn’t have time because he had to go through all of John’s missions reports. The result left Ocelot frustrated, if not annoyed, that random people got to spend more time with his friend than him. He wouldn’t lie – he missed John. Missed the daily meetings like those when both of them were still with the Patriots. Missed the long codec calls when John was out on a mission (they still had conversations over codec these days, if you could call John’s short questions about Afghan wildlife and Ocelot’s equally short answers a conversation). Missed just being near to John every now and then. Ocelot let out a small sigh. He had kept his affection for John barely a secret and multiple people had noticed his infatuation. He remembered one especially long talk with EVA, just after she had joined the Patriots, about how he could bring John to notice that he wanted a bit more from him than just friendship. She had given him various tips and he had tried them all – without success. John continued to be the most oblivious guy he had ever met. But it had always been enough for Ocelot. Just being with John had been enough. Now he didn’t even have that.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t even noticed Quiet returning to her cell. The woman sat on her bed again, observing him closely. When he didn’t show any sign of reaction she gently touched his shoulder through the metal bars of her cage. He inhaled sharply and stared at her with his eyes wide open, almost looking offended. She let out a small chuckle and shook her head in mock disapproval. Ocelot tried to hide his grin unsuccessfully. Quiet gave him a knowing look and pointed to the wall on her right. The wall was covered in photographs. Ocelot had brought her pictures of things he knew she liked, just so her cell was at least a bit more homelike. Most of them he took on the conservation platform. There were lots and lots of pictures of flowers, which Quiet seemed to be especially fond of. Then there were multiple pictures of DD in between. Mother Base’s dog (or was it a wolf?) spend much time in Quiet’s cell, maybe because he noticed her loneliness, or he just enjoyed her friendly company. But the picture Quiet was pointing at now was a photo of the main staff of Mother Base, including Ocelot, Miller, Emmerich, Code Talker, Quiet herself and of course John. Still with that knowing look in her eyes, Quiet patted Ocelot’s shoulder sympathetically. He let out a small huff. Even Quiet had noticed. She gave him a small smile and told him with a quick gesture to wait. Ocelot watched the young woman as she hurried over to her bed and fished something out of her pillowcase. She was back in front of him in no time, extending her hand through the metal bars. When Ocelot didn’t react immediately she hummed and nodded, wiggling her hand to get his attention. Slowly Ocelot reached forwards and Quiet laid something in his palm. It was another photograph, a bit crumpled and definitely not one of his. He turned it around. The picture was a bit blurry but Ocelot didn’t care. He looked at Quiet and back to the picture and back to Quiet. She had an expression of unmistakable joy on her face, apparently getting the reaction from him she had hoped for. What she had handed him was a picture of John, looking into the camera with a slightly confused look. Ocelot didn’t have any photographs of him. He had figured that it would have been weird to ask permission to take a picture of John and doing it secretly felt plain wrong.

“How…what…” he muttered, looking at Quiet in utter confusion. She grinned and put a finger to her lips as if to say he shouldn’t tell anyone.

“But…why?” Ocelot managed to say.

Quiet hummed again and pointed to the other wall, where a small calendar told today’s date. His birthday.

“How did you know?”  

But Quiet just shook her head and shrugged, still with a big smile on her face. Ocelot didn’t ask any further. The photograph still in his hand he went over to the cell door and opened it. He went straight over to Quiet and pulled her into an embrace. She went still for a moment and then tentatively hugged him back.

“Well, I guess I have to go and get you another cassette tape immediately.”

He felt Quiet’s breath next to his ear as she chuckled. She pulled back, playfully slapped his arm and gestured to the door, telling him to get going. He laughed and held up his hands in defeat. Before he exited her cell he turned back again.

“Thank you Quiet. Honestly. It means a lot.”

Quiet raised both her hands, pointing her fingers at him and winked in a perfect imitation of his signature gesture. He let out a laugh and shook his head. This woman was unbelievable. He made a mental note to get her the most amazing mix tape he could get his hands on.

When he went out onto the platform he was still holding the photograph in his hand. He had never been the sentimental type and the only picture in his office was that of a living Ocelot EVA had given him at some point (most likely just to mock him, but he actually liked it). But this little gift from Quiet was something else entirely. He carefully put it into his pocket, determined to keep it forever.


	2. Miller

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miller has a special surprise in store for Ocelot.

The sun was slowly sinking into the ocean as Ocelot made his way back to his office. He walked the ridiculously long bridges that connected the various platforms of Mother Base and watched the color of the sky slowly turning into a deep, bloody red. His thoughts wandered to the photograph in his pocket. It had been the nicest birthday in a long time and a welcome diversion from his usual daily routine. Not able to resist he took out the picture and looked at it closely. It had been taken in Afghanistan, the vast and forlorn desert in the background being a clear indicator for that. Ocelot let out a laugh as he examined John’s face. Quiet must have tricked him or something because his confused look seemed almost offended. When Ocelot heard a noise he looked up, just in time to see a soldier standing in front of him, beginning to salute, but not in time to avoid a collision with said soldier. Ocelot stumbled, but somehow managed to avoid falling to the ground by clutching to the railing. The soldier was not as lucky, landing with an oomph-sound on his behind. Ocelot let out a muffled curse and straightened, trying to regain his posture.

“Can’t you pay attention to where you’re walking, soldier?” he said, despite knowing very well that it had been entirely his fault for staring at a picture while walking. The soldier jumped to his feet and immediately saluted him. Ocelot believed he was called Lonely Goat, but he wasn’t too sure.

“I’m sorry, Sir.”

Ocelot shook his head and motioned the soldier to step aside, but he didn’t move.

“Is there something else you need?” Ocelot asked in his annoyed I’m-your-superior-and-you-should-get-out-of-my-way voice. The soldier swallowed, still saluting and looked around a bit nervously.

“Actually, Sir, I was looking for you. There is a problem in the mess hall and you should take a look at it.”

Ocelot looked at him in disbelief.

“A problem in the _mess hall._ And you can’t handle that yourself? What happened, did Miller poison someone with his horrible hamburger creations?”

The soldier made a very strange noise that sounded like a suppressed laughter.

“I don’t know I just…they told me to get you and…well…” he stuttered.

Ocelot rolled his eyes and pushed the soldier aside with his arm.

“Whatever, I’ll take a look at it.”

“Sir…”

Ocelot whirled around maybe a bit too dramatically and frowned at the soldier.

“ _What_?”

“I…I believe this is yours?” The soldier held up a small piece of paper and Ocelot immediately felt heat rising into his face. He was thankful for the red light of the declining sun that would probably conceal his embarrassment. Ocelot put on his best poker face and gave the soldier a tight nod, snatching the picture out of his outstretched hand and slipped it back into his pocket. Ocelot didn’t care what people thought about him, but this might put John in a bad light and Ocelot absolutely cared about that. He shot the soldier a death glare and saw the man swallowing hard, averting his eyes. Should Ocelot somehow get to know that there were weird rumors spreading around Mother Base he knew exactly who to _interrogate._ But for now he just clicked his tongue and turned around, hearing the soldier following him.

While they were walking towards the mess hall the soldier tactfully stayed a few steps behind Ocelot. They arrived and Ocelot slowly pulled open the heavy door to the corridor leading to the hall and stopped for a moment. The hallway was completely dark, which was odd because no matter what time of day, lights on Mother Base were basically never turned off. Ocelot turned around to the soldier.

“Is this it? You called me for a blackout?”

The soldier gave him an uncertain look and took a step backwards. Ocelot stopped himself from rolling his eyes and went towards the mess hall. When he opened the door he found the hall to be just as dark as the hallway. Then a loud bang sounded from somewhere behind him and something indefinable landed in his hair. He whipped around, pulling out his revolver and pointing it in the rough direction of the sound. Suddenly the lights went on and he found himself standing in a room full of people who were all looking at him.

“Wha-“

“Happy Birthday!” they all shouted in unison and then started clapping and cheering. Ocelot felt like murdering someone. His gun still pointed he looked around for a person he could hold responsible. When he heard a steady _tock_ behind him he slowly turned, knowing exactly who was to blame for this complete and utter mess.

“Miller…” he all but growled.

“Ocelot” Miller said a bit too cheery, limping to his side. “I figured you’d like a small party for your birthday. You spent all the last ones alone after all, so why not share this one with the whole crew?”

Ocelot gave him a glare, aware of the fact that Miller only wanted to mock him. Although he probably didn’t look too intimidating right now, with confetti all over his hair.

“How awfully considerate of you.”

“Oh come on!” Miller gave him a slap on the back, which was probably more painful than he intended it to be since he basically hit Ocelot with his crutch. “It will boost staff morale to see you actually behaving like a human being.”

“I can’t believe you organized this whole… _celebration_ just to bug me.” Ocelot muttered.

“What makes you think I did it for you? Your birthday was just a welcome excuse to throw a party again. The staff was getting a bit tense.” Miller replied. Ocelot looked at him in disbelieve and Miller let out a small sigh.

“Alright and maybe I wanted to get the better of you. Listen, we can go back to bickering tomorrow, let’s just relax for one evening. Don’t you think we deserve it?”

Ocelot didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to admit that Miller was right.

“It’s a shame the Boss isn’t here…right?” Miller grinned. Ocelot rolled his eyes and took a look around. The mess hall looked as always, except for a big buffet that had been built up on one of the tables and some balloons that hung from the ceiling. The only bigger change was a stage in the back with a few instruments and a microphone on it.

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to sing.” Ocelot said.

“Oh don’t worry. There are some talented people among our staff, just you watch.” Miller smiled. “I had a similar thing prepared for something we called “Peace Day” on the old Mother Base, just before…you know.” He looked sad all of a sudden. “That young woman, Paz, was supposed to sing. I actually wrote a song, can you believe it?”

Ocelot couldn’t fight a smile at the thought of Miller sitting in his room and (badly) strumming his guitar while trying to think of a melody.

“How was the song called?”

Miller coughed, a shade of blush creeping into his face.

“…Love Deterrence. It was quite bad, actually. But Paz, she wrote the lyrics and her mentor somehow managed to make the melody I created sound good. But Peace Day never came.”

“What happened?” Ocelot didn’t want to show interest in Miller’s story but he couldn’t help himself.

Miller scoffed. “Peace Day was supposed to happen 3 days after the inspection of Mother Base. You know the rest.”

Ocelot frowned. Of course he did. He repressed the urge to say ‘I’m sorry’, knowing that it wouldn’t really mean anything. Instead he pressed out a quick “Wait here.” and hurried over to the buffet table, feeling Miller’s confused stare at the back of his neck. The buffet was crowded with soldiers who all started to cheer when Ocelot approached.

“Happy Birthday, Sir!” He heard a familiar voice behind him. He turned and saw Flaming Buffalo regarding him with a broad grin.

“As I see you’re really enjoying the party”, she said in a sarcastic tone.

“In fact I’m enjoying it so much that I immediately need a drink to celebrate this fantastic idea Miller came up with”, he said equally sarcastic.

Flaming Buffalo laughed and made a very sloppy salute.

“Looking forward to the training tomorrow then.”

Feeling light-hearted all of a sudden Ocelot threw his signature gesture at her and made his way to the table with the drinks. He grabbed two beers, dodged a few soldiers who were patting him on the back (he was still an authority here, maybe he should consider having a serious talk with them in the morning) and returned to where he left Miller. He was still standing there, braced on his crutch, so Ocelot pulled up two chairs and gestured for Miller to sit. He passed him a slightly thankful look and slumped down with a grunt. Ocelot sat too, passing one beer on to Miller. He regarded it shortly before rising the bottle.

“Happy Birthday, Ocelot.”

Ocelot touched their bottles together and they both took a sip.

“I can’t believe I’m having drinks with you of all people”, Ocelot muttered, but Miller just grinned.

“It’s not such a bad thing. Just be careful not to spill any of your well kept secrets”

“Likewise.”

\---

Approximately eight bottles and some other drinks later Ocelot was feeling even more light-hearted. He had been talking to Miller for about two hours now and sometime around the fifth bottle they had begun to share stories about John.

(“I can’t believe you tried to impress him with cheap revolver tricks!” “Well at least I didn’t try to kill him.” “Yes you did!” “No I didn’t, it was all just show!”)

Around the seventh bottle soldiers had started gathering around them, apparently feeling brave enough now that their two commanders were drunk and way less intimidating.

“- so he grabs me by my shoulders and – remember that we’re still completely naked – throws me out the door, right into some soldier walking past the bathroom! He then follows, CQCing me to the ground and he didn’t even care about the other people who were all watching!”

Loud laughter filled the room as Kaz finished his story. Ocelot chipped in, slurring his words almost as much as Kaz before.

“Jo- the Boss always did have a thing for fighting naked. This one time in Tselniy…Tesli…Tselyo… Russia, back when he was still Naked Snake –“

Another fit of laughter went through the gathered soldiers and Ocelot noticed the joke only a little late.

“Yeah, his code name was the most accurate thing they could have come up with! Whatever, so, he already ran around half naked anyway, but one of his contacts later told me that at some point he actually considered going without pants, just because it would feel good!”

“Bet you were disappointed that he didn’t do it after all”, Kaz said, earning another round of laughter. Ocelot playfully slapped his arm.

“Shut your mouth, Kaz!”

After a while they ran out of stories and the gathered soldiers walked away from the big circle, into their own little groups. The band started playing again and music filled the hall.

“Kaaaaaz-“, Ocelot drawled, not in control of his vowels. “I guess I have to thank you. This was not such a bad idea at all.”

A sloppy grin was plastered on Kaz’s face.

“I dold – told you so. Pity the Boss couldn’t be here, amiright?”

Ocelot rolled his eyes. “Listen, I’m not that desparate!”

“Yyyyyes you are.”

“Nnnno I’m not.”

Kaz just waved dismissively. “Whatever you say, Cat.”

After that they sat in companionable silence for a while before Ocelot rose from his chair, feeling slightly tipsy and adjusting his stance.

“I think I really gotta go. There’s training again tomorrow…”

Kaz grabbed his crutch and stood as well.

“Alright! Hope you had some fun tonight.”

“That I did. Thanks, Kaz.”

Something in the part of Ocelot’s brain that was still more or less sober told him that hugging Kaz now would take everything too far. Quiet, okay, but Kaz…So he just grabbed the other man’s hand in an attempt to shake it. Unfortunately he had forgotten that Kaz needed his hand to hold the crutch, which he needed to stand properly, so when his support was gone all of a sudden Kaz was taken by surprise, staggering dangerously. Ocelot quickly threw his arm around his waist to help him.

“Loot at that”, he could hear that Kaz was grinning. “I even get an awkward hug.” He patted Ocelot on the back.

“Oh shut your mouth, Kaz!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tried a funnier approach with this one, I hope you like it!  
> Next up is (finally) John's chapter!


	3. John

Ocelot stepped from the warm and loud mess hall into the quietness of the cold night. The gulls that never stopped calling during the day were silent now and only the soft waves of the ocean were heard. The moon and the stars overhead shone just as brightly as the lights of Mother Base. The fresh air hit him in the face and he inhaled deeply. His head immediately started spinning and he almost regretted drinking so much alcohol. Almost. Ocelot couldn’t deny that he had fun with Miller this evening.

He slowly made his way towards the Command Platform. In front of the mess hall he’d found an empty can which he was now kicking around while walking across the long connection bridge. Every other step he missed and had to go back to continue his mindless activity. His good mood slowly began to drop. Quiet had thought about his birthday, even Miller had done something (more or less) nice, but John hadn’t even called. They’d known each other for ages and while John had never really done anything for his birthday, Ocelot was now bothered by it for the first time. He was mad at John, but he was also mad at himself because the really _shouldn’t_ be bothered by it. They were grown men and above that they were soldiers. What did a birthday matter? What did anything matter? Ocelot kicked the can vigorously and it flew over the railing into the dark waves below. Great.   
How could he have let it come this far? This had been a bad idea in the first place, he knew it. He just wanted his peace but no, Miller had to organize some fancy party for him. The world blurred as he spun around angrily and he stumbled and fell. He crashed against the railing and cursed loudly. With a grunt he let go of the cold metal bar and let himself slump onto the floor. This was just fantastic. Amazing.

_This is all John’s fault_ , a small voice in the back of Adam’s head whispered. He audibly gasped at the very idea.

“How dare you say that?” he muttered. “This is all the fault of… well, Kaz and the guys here and…” he trailed off, realizing he was talking to himself. This was how low he’d sunken. He let out an exasperated sigh, more directed at himself than anyone else and slowly slid to the side until his head connected unexpectedly strong with the metal floor.

“God damn it,” he groaned and stayed in his position, suddenly feeling unable to move. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this wasted. He was from Russia, damn it, he was supposed to be used to alcohol. This was all just because of his stupid birthday and Mr. I-solve-everything-with-revenge. He probably still hadn’t forgiven Ocelot for training DD to take away his crutch every time someone said “Fetch”.

It was slowly getting really cold and despite his protesting head Ocelot pulled himself up and started walking again. Who had built these ridiculously long bridges? Who had sat in front of a drawing board and thought to himself “You know what this Mother Base really needs? Ten-mile-long connection bridges.” Ocelot didn’t realize that he’d said the last words out loud and at this point he didn’t care anymore. He reached the command platform and let out a loud groan at the thought of having to walk another one of those damned bridges to get to the Intel platform.

“Damn you, Mother Base architect!” he shouted. He looked up, the stars glistening calmly as if to soothe him. One of those stars was particularly avid, blinking red and blue. Were those wings he heard? It had to be a huge bird with wings so big that they made such a loud noise. Or maybe Huey had developed a flying Metal Gear and was now testing it. Ocelot seriously considered a visit on the R&D platform before something in his head told him he was being stupid and should get to bed immediately. So he started walking Intel platform-wards. The sound of wings became louder and a strong wind hit Ocelot in the face. He raised his arms to brace himself against the stiff breeze. Wings...blinking lights…wind…the gears in Ocelot’s head clicked into place and he turned around, just in time to see a helicopter land at the landing zone of the command platform. That could only mean one thing.

Part of him wanted to turn around and get to his room as fast as possible, but the bigger part of him (and possibly the drunker part of him) refused to listen to reason and made him walk all the way back to the command platform. John just stepped out of the helicopter.

“See you later, Pequod.” He heard John say. “Have a nice evening.”

Ocelot waited for Pequod to fly away and then walked determinedly towards John. He stood with his back to Ocelot, apparently busy with his iDroid. It was then that Ocelot’s alcohol infused mind told him it would be a _fantastic_ idea to sneak up on his old friend and maybe scare him a little. Ocelot was good at being quiet, drunk or not. It kind of came with the profession of being a spy. The only problem was that this was John he was trying to sneak up on. Just one small step away from him Ocelot reached out, but John spun around and grabbed Ocelot’s wrist faster than he could react, twisting it behind his back and pulling him close. Ocelot’s hand was in a very uncomfortable position, trapped between John’s chest and his own back. Johns other arm was wrapped around his neck, applying slight pressure.

“Stop it, John, STOP it!” Ocelot shouted. John let go as soon as he heard his name.

“Adam? What the hell are you doing?”

Ocelot turned around, rubbing his wrist. Suddenly he was Adam again and it felt so good.

“What am _I_ doing? More like…what are _you_ doing?” He said lamely, his head feeling like someone had just dropped an entire Metal Gear on it. John just stared at him.

“Are you drunk?”

“And if I was?” He snapped.

John chuckled, a low rumble in his chest and Adam could feel heat rising to his face (it was because of the alcohol, or so he told himself).

“What’s the occasion?” John asked with genuine interest.

Adam scoffed and pulled up his eyebrow as far as he could.

“What’s the occasion?” He mimicked, trying (and failing) to imitate John’s deep voice. “Well if you must know, Miller threw me a party and we got drunk together.”

John let out a loud laugh.

“Come on. You can tell me the truth.”

Adam glared at him. “You know what, John?” His voice was slightly louder than he intended. When John realized Adam was insisting on an answer he sighed.

“What?” His voice sounded confused.

“You’re a daft idiot, that’s what you are!”

“Wha- where did that come from?”

Adam just shook his head and threw up his arms.

“Nothing important. In fact it’s nothing at all! Just forget it.”

The sober part of his mind told him that he was being terribly unfair while at the same time cursing him for getting drunk on the only evening where he finally met John alone and in peace. But he couldn’t change it. Right now he was drunk and angry and annoyed and instead of concealing it as usual he needed someone to take it out on. Unfortunately John was the only one around and even though he was drunk, Adam was still aware enough to know he didn’t really want to be mean to John. But when he turned to walk away like a sulky child he felt a strong hand around his arm.

“Adam, what’s wrong? Just tell me.” John’s voice sounded worried and it took the wind out of Adam’s sails.

“It’s my birthday, okay? You forgot my birthday”, he said very quietly.

John laughed again, immediately stopping though when he saw Adam’s hurt face.

“I’m sorry. Since when do you care about your birthday?”

“Since everyone else apparently does! But I get it, I do, your missions are more important and you have other things on your mind, but you know…” he stepped forwards, grabbing John’s lapels and fumbling around with them, suddenly craving closeness. Damned alcohol.

“You’re really wasted, aren’t you?” John smiled, detaching Adam’s fingers from his clothes.

“It’s not that bad”, Adam murmured.

“Maybe I should bring you to your office”, John offered.

“Maybe you should bring me to _your_ office”, Adam said quietly, realizing a second too late what he had just said and regretting it as soon as the words had escaped his mouth.

“What?” John said, frowning at him.

“Nothing. I didn’t say nothing…anything...at all” Adam stumbled over his words. John gave him a skeptical look but didn’t pry.

“SO!” Adam blurted out loudly to hide his embarrassment. “You really fought naked in the showers with Miller, huh?” So much for hiding embarrassment.

“I- wait, what?” If Adam hadn’t been so drunk he might have noticed how the legendary soldier blushed ever so slightly at his words.

“I told you there was a party. Things were said. So, did you?”

John rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe this…”

“Did you?” Adam grinned.

“Oh, for God’s sake…Yes, I did. Once!”

Adam snorted and slapped John’s shoulder.

“Maybe I should come and pay you a visit in the shower some time.”

“What do you mean?” John asked confused. “You wanna get beaten up in the shower?”

“No, Mr. Dense. I don’t want to get beaten up in the shower.”

“…you’re strange when you’re wasted.”

Adam shrugged. John rolled his eyes, grabbed Adam’s hand and pulled him with him.

“Come on. You need to sleep and there’s no way you’re walking to the Intel platform tonight on your own. I can’t afford to lose my most valuable source of Intel because he fell into the ocean and drowned. You can sleep in my bed.”

Adam stopped dead in his tracks, staggering slightly because John was still holding on to his hand and he was a bit (okay, a lot) stronger than Adam.

“In your bed?”

“Yeah”

“Just…like that?”

“What more is there to it?”

Adam shook his head vigorously, realizing that John didn’t mean sleeping _with him_ in his bed.

“Nothing. Forget it.”

“Good. Then let’s go.”

John didn’t let go of Adam’s hand all the way back to his office and Adam spent the whole way trying to convince himself that it just felt so good because he was still drunk. But truth to be told, the fresh air and the long walk had sobered him up quite a bit and he was finally able to think properly again. A small yellow lining on the horizon announced the dawning of a new day and Adam realized how long the walk to the command platform had actually taken him. Now he was walking behind John, their hands linked together and it felt like a very strange dream. A soldier walked past them just before they reached John’s quarters and he stared at them with wide eyes. John didn’t even remark him but Adam could have sworn he saw the soldier giving him a thumbs up.

John’s room was sparse. There was a desk right underneath the window, littered with papers, loose bullets and a large crumpled map of Central Africa. A shelf in the corner contained folders and mission reports, more or less assorted. There were various plants, standing around randomly in the room which could have probably passed for decoration were they not almost withered. The light that came from the ceiling was just a bit too cold. A little door led to the side room where John had his bedroom. When John closed the door behind them Adam felt a bit awkward. But John just smirked at him.

“I can’t believe you guys had a birthday party without me.”

“Well, it wasn’t half as much fun without you.” Adam said.

John walked over to his desk and pulled a cigar out of a drawer.

“That’s at least something, I guess”, he muttered and took a lighter from under one of the paper stacks on his desk. Adam stood there watching him take the cigar between his lips while fumbling with the lighter. Not being able to watch the scene any longer Adam stepped forwards and took the lighter out of John’s hand.

“Let me.”

“You’re drunk. Sure that’s such a good-“, he stopped mid-sentence when he realized that Adam had already lit the lighter.

“Well look at that”, John said appreciatively and stepped closer to him. Adam could smell his musky scent mixed with the smell of blood and earth that still stuck to him from the mission. Adam found himself leaning in closer, his head close to John’s neck.

“Adam, what…?” John’s voice was barely more than a whisper. Adam snapped out of it immediately and took a quick step back. They looked at each other, Adam getting lost in the deep blue of John’s single eye.

“You…” John cleared his throat. “You should go to bed.”

“Yes”, Adam replied but instead of turning around he moved forward again, the residual of alcohol in his blood making him bold. He hesitated for a second before leaning in and gently placing his lips on the corner of John’s mouth. John stood stock still for a second before stepping away from Adam hastily. When he looked into John’s face he could see nothing but confusion. Adam felt embarrassed. He shouldn’t have done that. It would make things needlessly complicated and they really didn’t need that. John probably didn’t even want this.

“I’m sorry”, Adam murmured and quickly turned around, walking towards the bedroom. When he felt a hand closing around his wrist he thought for a second John would confront him. Tell him to never do that again. But John just turned him around in one smooth motion, taking Adam’s face in both his hands and pressing their lips together. As soon as Adam realized that John was _kissing him_ he felt his knees giving in beneath him. He would have probably toppled over if John hadn’t looped one arm around his waist, pulling him close. Adam could feel the warmth of John’s body against his own, could feel John’s soft lips and scratchy beard and he knew that he would never be happier than in this single moment. Then John slowly pulled away and smirked at him.

“Call me dense all you want, but some signals are so obvious that even I can read them.”

“Shut up”, Adam said and closed the distance between them again. He wrapped his arms around John’s neck, burying his fingers in his dark hair. He could feel John smile against his lips.

“Happy Birthday, Adam.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this concludes the events of Ocelot's birthday.
> 
> (Tho I might upload a short epilogue tomorrow)


	4. Epilogue

Adam slowly opened his eyes, blinking against the harsh sunlight that flooded the room. His head felt like it would burst any moment. He looked around. He was…somewhere. Not his office, definitely not his own bed. He propped himself up on his elbows and groaned loudly. His head was going to kill him. The door opened and someone stepped into the room.  
“When you keep making these noises while lying in my bed people are gonna get the wrong idea”, said a dark voice.  
“John…What- what’s going on?”  
John sat beside him on the bed and regarded him amusedly.  
“Someone has had a bit too much to drink yesterday.”  
“That much I can tell. But why am I in your bed?”  
“You don’t remember anything?” John looked surprised. “Not sure if that should offend me.”  
“I-“, Adam tried to think but his brain refused to obey him.  
“Wait, let me help you.”  
John bent down, bringing his face close to Adam’s.  
“John, wh-“  
The words died in his mouth when John gently kissed him.  
“There you go, Sleeping Beauty.” John leaned back, apparently very pleased with himself.  
And Adam remembered. How could he have forgotten? He let himself fall back into the pillow, turning his head and breathing in John’s unmistakable scent that still lingered in the fabric.  
“Oh god…” his voice was muffled by the pillow. “So I didn’t dream it?”  
“Dream what?” he heard John’s voice from above.  
Adam snapped around again, passing John a suspicious look. A flash blinded his eyes and he tried to blink the stars away that appeared before his eyes.  
“There you go. Now I got a ridiculous picture of you, too.”  
John stood up, regarding Adam warmly.  
“I’m gonna go have a serious talk with Quiet and Kaz. You better stay here and get over your hangover.  
He was almost out the door, but suddenly turned around and came back again. He smirked down at Adam who was still lying in bed, trying to process everything.  
“And no. You didn’t dream it.”  
He bent down and placed a kiss on Adam’s nose.  
“See you later. Don’t go anywhere.”  
With that John left the room and Adam stayed in bed, staring at the ceiling with a ridiculous grin on his face.  
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the end. Thank you for reading!


End file.
